Hi Gene, Thanks for posting these photos; dark-mantled gulls are always a great find for Franklin County. Great Black-backed Gull can be ruled out because the mantle, although quite dark, is still much paler than the primaries. On Great Black-backed Gull the mantle would be so blackish that there would be little or no contrast with the black folded primaries. Great Black-backed Gulls also have quite a bit larger bill than this bird, and would appear significantly larger than the adjacent Herring Gull. This bird can be aged as a 2nd cycle gull because the gray mantle has already come in but the brownish wing coverts are still largely retained the there are not yet any white "mirrors" visible in the folded primary tips. This 2nd cycle gull looks like a Lesser Black-backed Gull. While adult Lesser Black-backeds have yellow legs, immatures can maintain pinkish legs through their 2nd winter, and according to Sibley most have yellow legs by their 3rd winter. Of all the dark-mantled gulls, Lesser Black-backed is the most likely to occur at inland locations in Ohio. Good birding, Dave Slager Columbus, Ohio On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 17:04, Gene Stauffer <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > This afternoon I observed and photographed a gull on the boat docks > immediately above the dam at Hoover Reservoir in Franklin County. The > photos were digiscoped from a considerable distance, and are not good > photos, but I hope someone can confirm my ID from them. The photos can be > seen at http://genebirds.blogspot.com/ . > > > > Please let me know your opinion. > > > > Gene Stauffer > > Grove City > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. > Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. > Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. > > You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: > http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS > Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]